


1) Always Stay Together

by QueenKatelynTheAristocrat



Series: How To Avoid Bullies: A Series [3]
Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Potter family drama, Pre-Canon, Pre-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Pre-Slash, defensive albus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-29 14:37:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19402345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenKatelynTheAristocrat/pseuds/QueenKatelynTheAristocrat
Summary: Contains: Protective!Albus, bullies getting what's coming to them, a bit of angst, a lot of adorableness, and the origin story of a certain list...Part 3 of How to Avoid Bullies: A Series





	1) Always Stay Together

It was a week into his first year at Hogwarts, and Scorpius could already tell that his next seven years there would not be easy. For one thing, he’d only met one person so far who was nice, and Scorpius wasn’t even sure  _ he  _ would continue being nice to him once he realized what a complete and absolute loser Scorpius Malfoy truly was. 

You see, that person was Albus Potter, and Scorpius’s father always said that people like Albus didn’t get along with people like Scorpius. Scorpius figured it was only a matter of time before Albus realized that if only he stopped spending all his time with someone rumored to be the son of Voldemort, he could instead spend his time with anyone he wanted. Even if Albus had been sorted into Slytherin. 

Scorpius wondered what his father would have to say about  _ that. _

Regardless, Scorpius was determined to remain optimistic, and therefore had decided to enjoy having a friend for the first time in his life for as long as it lasted, rather than worrying about just how long that would be, exactly. And so, Scorpius went about his days, Albus a near constant presence at his side, ignoring the rest of the world and trying to focus on his classes. 

After all, since all the professors expected him to make trouble, Scorpius would just have to listen extra carefully, put in extra effort, until everyone realized he was nothing like his ancestors, nothing like his father was as a child. 

No matter how long it took, Scorpius would prove them all wrong. He wouldn’t allow their suspicions to lead him down a path that ended with him becoming exactly what they expected. 

Of course, remaining congenial and polite was easier said than done when the entire school treated him like something that crawled in from the Forbidden Forest. 

Scorpius could handle less-than-subtle comments and alienation. He could avoid people leaning away from him like he had something contagious when he walked down the hallway. He could handle noses turned up and distaste made obvious. After all, he’d experienced all of those every time he and his family had gone out in public for most of his life. Being treated like a pariah was nothing new for Scorpius, and if Albus found their treatment distasteful, he never commented on it, never tried to gain back the favor of his peers. 

What Scorpius wasn’t sure he could handle was the unadulterated violent hatred he saw in the eyes of some, and the gleeful cruelty he saw in the eyes of others. This was something his father had shielded him from up to this point, and now that the protection of his parents was gone, Scorpius was at a loss as to how to react. Should he acknowledge their hatred? Should he act defensively? Or should he just ignore them, act oblivious and hope they would go away? 

Even through his infinite optimism, Scorpius could tell the last was both illogical and supremely unlikely. And besides, there was no way to act oblivious when green fire flared up in Albus’s eyes in response to every hateful glance, every violent word. 

Scorpius could tell his friend could be dangerous when provoked. There was just something about him that told people not to mess with him, something Scorpius admired greatly, but knew he could not imitate. It was inevitable: Scorpius was a lover, not a fighter, and everyone could tell. Which was unfortunate when there were several who would gladly kill him given the chance, and Scorpius did not mean that as an exaggeration. 

Life was a hostile environment for those born with the ire of the public turned on them with neither probation or mitigation. 

With that in mind, Scorpius was unwilling to be parted from Albus outside the safety of the Slytherin Common Room. If there was anywhere Scorpius could feel confident he would not be hexed when his back was turned, it was there. Slytherins may have still seen him as a loser, but at least they -- often children of former Death Eaters themselves -- wouldn’t kill him in his sleep. 

Regardless, on one fateful day before Transfigurations, after Scorpius and Albus had taken their customary seats in the far corner of the room -- away from the vengeful eyes of the Gryffindors who shared their class -- Scorpius, upon digging through his bag in search of his supplies for the class, realized that he had forgotten his textbook. 

It was then that two warring impulses awoke within Scorpius’s mind: he was very afraid of being separated from Albus so far from their Common Room for the period of time it would take to retrieve his book, but he was also very afraid of what their professor would think if he wasn’t prepared for class. While his father’s stories of Headmistress McGonagall’s strictness when she taught Transfigurations remained legendary and unmatched, their current professor was not to be messed with, and Scorpius didn’t want to give her reason to single him out as a careless student so early in the term. 

In the end, Scorpius’s desire to succeed won out over his instinct for self preservation. Sometimes he felt he should’ve been a Ravenclaw. 

Albus must have sensed Scorpius’s anxiety, because he turned to him with eyebrows drawn and asked, “What’s wrong?” 

“I forgot my textbook.” Scorpius stated, fear evident in his tone, and to his credit Albus understood immediately what Scorpius intended to do. 

Albus shook his head frantically and said, “No. No way. We’re in Gryffindor territory, and regardless, there’s only seven minutes until class starts. You just take mine and we’ll tell the professor that I’m the one who wasn’t prepared.” 

Scorpius was so shocked by the offer that he couldn’t immediately turn it down, “You’d do that?” he blurted instead. 

Albus answered immediately, with a smirk, “Of course. It’s not like anyone expects academic excellence from a Potter, anyway, now is it?” 

So help him, it was so difficult for Scorpius to comprehend Albus’s simple willingness to take the heat for him that he just stared, wideyed, for a moment, before he could bring himself to shake his head. “No, I can’t let you do that.” 

Albus frowned. “Well,  _ I  _ can’t let you run back to the Common Room by yourself. I’ll go with you.” Scorpus’s best friend made to stand, but Scorpius grabbed his sleeve to stop him. 

“It’s foolish for us both to risk being late. I’ll be right back. You’ll see, everything will be just fine.” Scorpius even sounded to his own ears like he was trying to convince himself just as much as Albus. 

Albus still looked unsure, but after searching Scorpius’s eyes and finding a stubborn streak there even greater than his own father’s, Albus relaxed back into his seat and said, “Alright. But if you’re not back in fifteen minutes, I’m coming after you.” 

“You won’t need to.” Scorpius countered, and left Albus with a smile, making his way past a crowd of Gryffindors who refused to move for him and out the door of the classroom. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Albus was not happy about letting Scorpius go off on his own, not happy at all. He had a very bad feeling, the kind that Professor Trelawney would surely try to interpret as premonition. 

Albus was about to start believing in Divination himself, when the professor called the class to the attention and Scorpius still wasn’t back. By the time ten minutes had passed, Albus was in a downright panic. So much so that the professor noticed from all the way across the classroom. 

“Mr. Potter, what seems to be the problem?” She asked, and Albus jumped, having been paying absolutely no attention, and snapped his eyes back from the door for the umpteenth time. 

“Um... “ Albus wasn’t even able to think of a decent excuse, other than, “Can I please be excused to the loo, Professor?” 

The entire class laughed maliciously, and the Professor gave a put-upon sigh, but said, “If you must,” and Albus was out of his seat like a shot. 

Once outside the classroom, he figured the thing to do would be to head towards the Slytherin Common Room -- that was where Scorpius had been headed, after all -- so that was what he did. 

As he passed the hall that led to Gryffindor Tower, Albus felt the usual numb terror, but also something far worse: dread. The kind that sinks to the bottom of your stomach like a stone and makes a home for itself there. He took a deep breath and kept moving. 

Sure enough, as he passed the hall that led to the Dungeons Albus heard the kind of malicious laughter that was all too familiar by that point in the year, and ran down the back hall that led to it. 

The sight at the end of it was enough to drop Albus’s stomach. Scorpius, cornered against the wall by four upper-year Gryffindors, and chief among them was Nicholas Creevey, all-around evil bastard, and Albus’s own brother James’s best friend. 

Albus Potter feared few things more than Nicholas Creevey. He had never wished more that Scorpius was beside him so they could run away together. But instead, his optimistic, stubborn, and fragile best friend was sitting with his back to the wall, with his head in his arms, the picture of mortal terror, surrounded by the kind of people who would willingly kick someone when they were down. 

So far, Albus had not been noticed. He took stock of the situation. 

“Look,  _ Malfoy,  _ if you even deserve to be called by that name, we don’t want this to get violent.” said one of Creevey’s goons, sounding like he very much wanted this -- whatever  _ this  _ was -- to get violent. 

“Yeah, just admit that you’re really the son of Voldemort and you’re Death Eater father sold your bitch mother off to him like a prostitute, and we’ll let you go.” said another one, laughing smugly. 

Scorpius, ever brave, said nothing. 

Creevey, the devil in his eyes,  _ smiled  _ as he said, “What do you think boys? Seems like he needs a little encouragement.” and drew his wand. As he began to cast a curse, Albus moved without thinking. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scorpius had known he was in trouble the moment he heard them coming. The Gryffindor buffoons had been heading back to their Common Room after a midmorning snack when their paths crossed with Scorpius’s. 

Scorpius had been frozen in place like a deer in headlights, unsure whether to run towards Slytherin or back towards Transfigurations, and that second of indecision had been his downfall. Before he could even think they were on him. 

Creevey’s smile when he first met Scorpius’s eyes was the stuff of nightmares, and Scorpius had been terrified. It had only gotten worse when Creevey began to speak, “What do we have here? A baby Death Eater snake without his knight in shining Potter armor. What do you think, Jamesie? Do we leave him?” 

Scorpius met James’s eyes. He knew James recognized him. He saw it in the way his expression filled with indecision. And even if he hadn’t, his friend Nick had just referenced Albus in a way that was not at all subtle. 

Scorpius did his best to beg James for mercy with his eyes alone. He knew a single brave word from James would have his friends letting Scorpius go with only a Stinging Hex for his trouble. He also knew that if he himself were to beg aloud, they would be on him like the lions Gryffindors were known for. 

Scorpius may have imagined it, but he thought he saw an apology in James’s eyes, just before they went cold. Scorpius’s heart began to race. He knew exactly what that meant. 

“Sorry, mates, but I’m out. Family first, and all that rot. My father would have my head.” And so, James would not willingly participate in the harming of his little brother’s best friend, but he would also do nothing to stop it. Scorpius was disappointed, but he couldn’t exactly say he was surprised. 

Nick smirked in some approximation of sympathy, and said, “Too bad, James. But fathers are fathers, right?” 

“See you guys in the Common Room.” James said, and with one more guilty glance at Scorpius, he was gone. 

When Scorpius turned his gaze from James back to the threat, he found that all of them had their eyes fixed on him in gleeful anticipation. There was nothing a Gryffindor liked better than asserting their dominance by preying on the weak. 

“What are you looking at, Son of Voldemort?” asked Creevey, and Scorpius was ashamed to admit it only took one hex and he was on the floor. Malfoy’s had never been known for their bravery. 

The entire group proceeded to say several rather unsavory things about Scorpius, Voldemort, Scorpius’s mother, and Death Eaters in general, most of which Scorpius blocked out and none of which he cared to remember. Creevey’s goons hit him with a few more weak hexes, but their magical prowess was certainly nothing to write home about, and it was nothing Scorpius couldn’t handle. 

It was when Creevey began intoning that curse that Scorpius knew it was over. He was just hoping he would pass out before the pain got too unbearable, when, miraculously, he heard Albus’s voice, yelling “NO!” 

Scorpius looked up in disbelief just in time to see his best friend insert himself unceremoniously between Scorpius and Nick Creevey, before Albus released a blast of wild magic strong enough to knock each one of the older Gryffindors several feet back onto their arses. 

Immediately, Creevey’s goons got back up, took one look at the fire in Albus’s eyes, and ran. Creevey, his backup nonexistent, gave them a glare that promised retribution, and took off after them. 

Albus waited a second to make sure they were gone, then turned and dropped to his knees in front of Scorpius, who was, embarrassingly, still shaking. The concern in his eyes was absolutely striking. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Albus was still terrified, but his fury was strong enough to overpower everything except his worry for Scorpius. He had no idea where the magic had come from: he hadn’t cast any spell, and even if he had wanted to cast, he didn’t know the spell for what he just did. He wasn’t even sure there  _ was  _ one. He just knew that to allow Scorpius to be harmed was completely unacceptable. 

His magic had responded to that one, all-consuming thought and desire. 

“Are you alright?” he asked his best friend, who was currently shaking like a leaf and fidgeting. 

“I’m fine, I’m totally fine, I just…” Scorpius said, then trailed off, blocking Albus’s attempts to meet his gaze. 

“You just what?” Albus asked, overwhelmingly concerned. 

Scorpius could hold it in no longer, “I just… I thought I was going to die, Albus.” he admitted, and burst into tears. 

Albus, for the life of him, had no idea what to do. “Um… it’s going to be alright?” 

Scorpius laughed a bit at that, and said, “I can’t believe you jumped in front of a curse for me, Albus.” He sounded a bit shell-shocked. 

Albus knew the answer to that immediately. “I could never watch them hurt you. Especially not a useless bastard like Nick Creevey. Just imagine: that creep has been in my  _ house. _ ” 

Albus’s attempt at humor fell flat. Scorpius was looking at him strangely. As if he almost couldn’t believe Albus was real. Albus searched his eyes for some sign of what to do. 

Finally, Albus’s words seemed to register, and Scorpius glanced toward Gryffindor tower and back again. “About that, Albus, there’s something you should know…” 

Albus was confused, and more than a little wary, “What is it?” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Your brother. He was here.” 

“James?” 

Scorpius just nodded, reluctantly. He didn’t want to ruin Albus’s relationship with his brother, but at the same time, this was something Albus deserved to know. 

“Did he hurt you?” Albus asked, and when Scorpius didn’t reply immediately, his eyes hardened and he said, “I’m going to kill him.” and made to get up. 

Scorpius grabbed his sleeve to stop him, “No, wait, Albus. He didn’t hurt me. Not himself anyway. He just…” 

Albus seemed to understand. “He just was here, and did nothing to stop his bloody bastard of a best friend from attacking mine.” 

Scorpius nodded again. Again, that righteous fire in Albus’s eyes was shocking to Scorpius. He’d never seen anything like it in his life, and doubted he would find it anywhere else no matter where he looked. He’d heard of the captivating power in the eyes of Harry Potter, but Scorpius was convinced it couldn’t possibly burn brighter, sear deeper than the fire he had passed on to his son. Albus was a new, improved, kind of Potter. 

“They’re going to want revenge on us, Albus.” Scorpius said, mostly to distract Albus from his growing rage. 

Albus nodded his acknowledgement. “That’s why we need to stay together. At all times. We should make it a rule.” He glared at Scorpius as if he was -- for some strange reason -- going to argue. 

“I can only agree.” Scorpius said, quickly, “Apart, we are much weaker.” 

Suddenly, Albus’s eyes lit up with what could only be one of his ideas. “Come on. I have an idea.” 

With that, he held out his hands to Scorpius, who took them without hesitation, and pulled him to his feet. 

As Albus headed toward the Slytherin Common Room, Scorpius said, “But, Albus, we have class.” 

Albus’s smirk was playful as he turned back to his best friend. “You don’t have your textbook anyway.” 

He turned and started walking as if he knew Scorpius would follow. Scorpius, unable to argue with that kind of logic, did just that. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment they got back to the Common Room, Albus headed to their dorm: he was, after all, a man on a mission. Once there, he turned to Scorpius and said, without explanation, “I’m assuming you have a fairly long piece of parchment?” 

Scorpius nodded, still looking wary, and didn’t even have to ask. Albus just said, “Bare with me. I have an idea.” 

With one more curious look, Scorpius turned to his dresser and retrieved a piece of parchment, a quill and some ink, and laid them on Albus’s bed. 

Albus seized them immediately and wrote across the top in the most legible handwriting Scorpius had seen from him yet, the words,

**How To Avoid Bullies: A List**

**By and Albus Potter**

He left a gap for Scorpius to write his name first, and Scorpius smiled knowingly at that, taking the quill Albus was offering to him. Albus knew that Scorpius hated when things did not obey proper alphabetical order, and he was purposefully teasing him. Regardless, Scorpius dutifully signed his name before passing the quill back to Albus. 

Immediately below that, Albus wrote:

****1) "Always. Stay. Together.** Alone we’re much easier targets." **

Scorpius read over his shoulder and smiled, then held his hand out for the quill. Albus passed it to him. 

Scorpius thought for a moment, then added, in his own fancy script: 

_ "Found that one out the hard way: always take the same classes, always eat meals together, always sit together in class, never go to the library alone, never run back to retrieve that forgotten textbook alone. In fact, let’s make it never spend a single moment apart." _

He looked up at Albus and saw nothing but joy and camaraderie in his eyes. Perhaps their next seven years at Hogwarts wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

“So, the plan is, we keep this list, right? And then we add to it whenever we come up with another rule. If we get a big enough collection of them, and then follow them like gospel from Merlin himself, we’ll be damn near untouchable.” Albus said, with such conviction that Scorpius -- miraculously -- believed him. 

“It’s like rule number one says, right?” Scorpius answered, “As long as we stay together, we’ll be just fine.” 

Albus just smiled, and for the first time, Scorpius felt like maybe, just maybe, Albus wouldn’t grow tired of him after all. 

“We need somewhere to hide this.” Albus said, indicating the list. Without waiting for an answer, he glanced, assessing, around the room, and then began to unceremoniously empty the bottom drawer of his dresser onto his bed. Scorpius was aghast, but he said nothing. 

Albus put the list inside the now-empty drawer, and grabbed a key that had henceforth been unnecessary from the top of the dresser, and locked it. He held up the key in question, and Scorpius grabbed it wordlessly and went over to his own dresser, opened the bottom drawer, and hid it under a pile of neatly folded robes. 

Albus raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a little obvious?” 

Scorpius smiled back, “That’s why no one will ever think of it.” 

Albus laughed, and Scorpius came to sit beside him. 

Scorpius considered for a moment, then said, “Besides, I think I know a spell we can add for another layer of protection.” 

He glanced at Albus for permission, and Albus merely indicated his permission with a wave of his hand, and Scorpius concentrated for a moment, before casting a locking spell he’d learned from his father. 

When he turned back to Albus, it was to find his best friend looking very impressed. Almost awestruck, Albus said, “That was, like, a sixth year spell.” 

Scorpius looked at the ground. “Just something my Dad taught me.” 

Albus didn’t look any less impressed when he said, “Either way. Amazing that you could learn it. I could never do something like that.” 

Scorpius could tell that Albus wasn’t fishing. He genuinely believed what he said. So he smiled and said, “You could, Albus.” 

Albus met his eyes, then looked away blushing. “We should probably get back to Transfigurations before it’s over. What time is it anyway?” 

Scorpius cast  _ tempus  _ then gave a self deprecating laugh when he saw the time. “We shouldn’t even bother. Class is over in ten minutes.” 

Albus didn’t even have the good grace to pretend to be ashamed. He just grinned even wider and said, “That means it’s lunch! Come on, we have to get our seats in the corner of the table before they’re taken. They are, after all, prime real estate.” 

Scorpius just laughed, and shook his head. “You’re impossible.” he said, but with an incredible amount of fondness. 

With that, the two best friends went to lunch, both with the knowledge that in each other, they had someone who would never betray them, would rather cut off their own arm than do so. And that, as long as they stuck together, the bullies would never win. No matter how outnumbered they were. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments make my day! :)


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